Self-soaping washboard.



I 7 No. 870,787. I PATENTE'D N0v.12,1907.

, J. KOONTZ. SELF SOAPING WASHBOARD.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 11, 1907.

UNITED STATESMPATENT OFFICE.

JOHN KOONTZ, OF PADUOAH, KENTUCKY, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO JAMES WEILLE, OF

. PADUOAH, KENTUCKY.

SE LF-SOAPIN G WASHB OAR/D.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 12, 1907.

Application filed February 11 1907- Serial No. 356.861..

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN KooN'rz, a citizen of the United States, residing at Paducah, in the county of McOracken and State ofKentucky, have invented a new and useful Self-Soaping Washboard, of which the following is a specification.

The invention relates to improvements in wash boards. 1

The object of the present invention is to improve the construction of wash boards, and to provide a simple and comparatively inexpensive one of great strength.

and durability, having means for holding a quantity of soap and adapted to soap the clothes, while the same are being moved over the rubbing surface during the operation of washing.

Afurther object of the invention is to provide a selfsoaping wash board, adapted to supply soap without waste tothe clothes during the entire stroke of the same on the rubbing surface.

With these and other objects in view, the invention consists in the construction and novel combination of parts hereinafter fully described, illustrated in the ac- I companying drawing, and pointed out in the claims hereto appended; it being understood that various changes in the form, proportion, size and minor details of construction, within the scope of the claims, may be resorted to without departing from the spirit or sacrific ing anyof the advantages of the invention.

In the drawing :Figure 1 is a front elevation of a wash board, constructed in accordance with this invention. Fig. 2 is a rear elevation of the same. Fig. 3 is a perspective View of the wash board, the door or closure of the soap receptacle being open. Fig. 1 is a longitudinal sectional View, the soap receptacle being closed.

Like numerals of reference designate corresponding parts in all the figures of the drawing.

1 designates a wash board having a corrugated rubbing surface 2, consisting of a board or plate, suitably secured between the side bars 3, and upper and lower transverse bars 4 and 5. The rubbing surface is providedwith a plurality of rows of perforations 6, communicating with a soap receptacle 7, which extends the entire length of the rubbing surface of the wash board, and which is adapted to apply soap to the clothes during the entire stroke of the same, whereby the self-soaping wash board will not interfere with the ordinary manner of washing clothes on a wash board.

The rows of perforations preferably converge upwardly, and the soap receptacle 7 is formed by longitudinal bars 8 and a door or closure 9. The longitudinal bars 8, which are located at the back of the wash board,

have their ends 10 rounded and fitted in recesses 11 of the upper and lower transverse bars 4 and 5, whereby the longitudinal bars 8 are interlocked with the said transverse bars 4 and 5, and are thereby held against transverse movement. The longitudinal bars, which form the side walls of the soap receptacle also operate to brace the wash board, and the strength and durability of the same are thereby greatly increased.

The door or closure 9, which may be constructed of sheet metal, wood, or any other suitable material, is connected at its lower edge with the lower transverse bar 5 by hinges l2, and it is secured in its closed position by a fastening device, preferably consisting of a pivoted button 13, mounted on the door or closure adjacent to the upper edge thereof and arranged to engage a recess 14 of the upper transverse bar 4. The recess 14 is formed in the lower edge of the upper transverse bar, and it receives one end of the pivoted button, as clearly illustrated in Fig. 4 of the drawing.

The soap receptacle is adapted to receive a quantity of soap, which is automatically applied to the clothes through the perforations 6 during the operation of washing, thereby effecting a saving in both time and labor and enabling the clothes to be soaped without handling the latter.

The perforations and the soap receptacle may be applied to a wash board of any construction, and the cost of construction of the same is not materially increased, while the wash board is greatly strengthened by the addition of the rear soap receptacle. Also the improved wash board will enable more work and better work to be performed in a given time with a less amount of soap than is possible with an ordinary wash board, where the soap must be applied to the clothes by hand.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is:

1. In a wash board, the combination of side bars, upper and lower cross bars connecting the side bars, a rubbing surface supported by the said bars and provided with an intermediate perforated portion extending from the top to the bottom of the rubbing surface, intermediate longi .tudinal bars located at opposite sides of the said perforated portion of thernbbing surface and spaced from the side bars and connected at their terminals with the upper and lower cross bars, a door of a width and length coextensive with the width and length of the intermediate perforated portion of the rubbing surface and hinged at one end to one of the cross bars, and a catch arranged at the other end of the closure for engaging the other cross bar, said door occupying the space between the intermediate bars.

2. In a wash board, the combination of side bars, upper and lower cross bars connecting the side bars and provided with ulined recesses, a rubbing surface supported by the said bars and provided with an intermedate perforated porsaid door occupying the space hetween the intermediate tion, intermediate longitudinal bars located at opposite bars.

sides of the perforated portion of'the rubbing surface and In testimony, that I claim theforegoing as my own, I having their terminals fitted in the said recesses and interhave hereto afiilxed my signature in the presence of two locked with the upper and lower cross bars and spaced witnesses.

from the side bars, a door fitting within and covering the JOHN KOONTZ. space inclosed by the longitudinal and cross bars and Witnesses: hinged to the lower cross bar, and a catch arranged at the R. L. CALDWELL,

free edge of the closure for engaing the upper cross bar. LENA ENGLERT. 

